How will the Redskins wide receivers shape up after losing Desean Jackson and Pierre Garcon? Who will get those targets?

The Redskins passing offense was one of the best in the year last year. They were second in passing yards, fourth in completions, second in yards per attempt, and have taken the fourth least sacks in the league. It was good, but now there’s uncertainty. They’ve lost Desean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, two 1000-yard receivers last year. It’s also 216 targets that are unaccounted for. Garcon was a possession guy, and Jackson was their deep threat. Let’s get into their replacements.

The big free agent add was Terrelle Pryor Sr. He came in on a one year deal with incentives. This deal tells me a lot. Why couldn’t he get a multi-year deal? That tells me that even after a 77-catch, 1000 yard season, teams don’t completely buy into the hype. However, I think this team is a good situation for him. He’s a huge receiver at 6’4″, 240 pounds, and the Redskins can use another big body in the red zone; Pryor can win those jump balls. If he gets Jackson’s deep shot targets, he could take it to the house as well. What I don’t like is Pryor’s ADP. Early 4th round? That’s way too high for me. I’ll be paying attention to training camp and preseason to see how he’s used and if he’s being heavily targeted, but I can’t see a return on that investment. Give me Julian Edelman or Michael Crabtree at that price.

The guy that might make a splash bigger than most people expect is Josh Doctson. His achilles injury lingered throughout the beginning of the season last year, and he ended up on injured reserve. Now that’s he’s healthy, he can show his talents. Doctson has the potential to be a big play wide receiver who can jump up and make contested catches. He’s an excellent route runner who will play in place of Pierre Garcon in the Z receiver role. Garcon led the team with 1041 receiving yards on a team-high 116 targets, and if Doctson can run those routes, he can get a ton of targets from Kirk Cousins. Doctson is currently going in the middle of the 12th round, and can possibly be a PPR WR2 based on opportunity.

Jamison Crowder has been very polarizing this offseason. Many think he will take over as the second leading receiver behind Jordan Reed. Crowder had seven touchdowns and a lot of red zone targets, but with Pryor and Doctson coming in, not to mention Jordan Reed, I think his red zone targets go down. He had some good games, but he also had games with these yardage totals: 58, 39, 21, 35, 52, 37, 42, 37, 24, 3, 16. That’s not something to hang your hat on, and we can’t depend on touchdowns. Obviously in PPR he has more value, but how much is he really helping you? If they didn’t have adequate replacements after losing Jackson and Garcon, I can see his usage going up, but they do. He’s being drafted at the end of the sixth round in PPR, which is a little high for me. I rather have guys like Donte Moncrief, Emanuel Sanders, Willie Snead, and Stefon Diggs, who are all going right around him.

This passing offense is one you definitely want a piece of. It’ll be interesting to see how Cousins develops rapports with these new receivers, but at least he’ll have his go-to in Jordan Reed as a safety blanket. This passing offense can support two or three relevant pass-catchers, but don’t overpay. I prefer to get a guy like Doctson at a very low price to get a piece, and hope he’s one of the guys who produces fantasy value.